VIRGINIA — It’s been a very busy and successful summer for officials from North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity and more projects are in the works for fall.

Nathan Thompson, executive director for Habitat, said construction on three homes started this summer is nearly two-thirds of the way complete and work will begin on two more in September.

“It’s been a pretty busy building season,” Thompson said. “There were three we started in June and they are really doing well. We had a little extra help this year and great volunteers.”
Trim and floor work is taking place at two of the homes, one in Eveleth and one in Babbitt, and sheet rock work was set to begin late last week on a home in Aurora.

An open house and dedication is planned for the Eveleth home on Sept. 27.

Thompson said one of the highlights of that project was “Build with a Bishop Day,” which was held in June and featured 66 people — including 11 pastors, 11 senior high youth from Voyageurs Lutheran Ministry, and four chefs who delivered lunch right to the build site — working elbow to elbow with Habitat officials and volunteers.

The open house and dedication for the Babbitt home is set for Oct. 4.

Meanwhile, a groundbreaking will take place on a high school build project in Hibbing on Sept. 15.

High school students from Chisholm, Hibbing and Nashwauk-Keewatin, along with students from the Hibbing Community College will be involved in that project.

A similar project took place last year, Thompson said, that worked out well for all the people involved.

“It was a very smooth process and we learned a few things to make the next one even smoother,” Thompson said.

Also, for the first time, Habitat officials will be doing a rehab (full remodel) on a Virginia home with students from the Virginia High School.

The groundbreaking for that project — at 1515 13th Street — will be at 9 a.m. Sept. 14.

All the schools got funding from the Applied Learning Institute to get involved, Thompson added.

Thompson said Habitat officials are pleased with how the program is progressing in the area after making an effort several years ago to increase the number of projects that are done per year.

“We’ve been in capacity building mode since 2003. Our goal was to get to five homes a year and sustain that before (adding more). We’re looking forward to five homes next year as well,” Thompson said. “We’ve definitely grown to meet the needs of families in the community.”